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60th Congress, ) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. J Documrnt 

1st Sessio?i. i" ( No. 625. 



TIDE LANDS IN WASHINGTON STATE CLAIMED BY 
PUYALLUP INDIANS. 



LETTER 



THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, 

KKCOMMENDING 

LEGISLATION RELATIVE TO TIDE LANDS IN WASHINGTON 
CLAIMED BY PUYALLTJP INDIANS. 



February 5, 1908. — Referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs and ordered to be 

printed. 



Department of the Interior, 

Washi7igton, February 5, 1908, 

Sir: On December 26, 1854, a treaty was entered into between the 
United States and the Nisquall}^ Puyalliip, and other Indians, by 
which it was agreed on the part of the United States, among other 
things, to set apart to the Puyallup Indians a square tract containing 
two sections of 1,280 acres l3"ing on the south side of Commencement 
Bay, in the Territory of Washington. This agreement was ratified 
on March 3, 1855, and proclaimed on April 10, 1855 (10 Stat. L., 
1132). 

Isaac SteV'Cns, governor of the Territor}", finding the Indians dis- 
satisfied with the size and location of the reservation, as indicated by 
said treaty, agreed at a conference held with them in August, 1856, to 
a readjustment of said reservation, the exterior boundaries of which 
were surveyed and established by his order. On Decem])er 5, 1856, 
he forwarded to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs a map, with the 
notes of the survey and a record of his agreement with the Indians. 

The recommendation of Governor Stevens that the land embraced 
within the boundaries shown on the map be set apart as the Puyallup 
Reservation was approved by the President in 1857, thereby establish- 
ing the reservation and defining its boundaries. 

In 1864 the surveyor-general of the Territory of Washington 
extended the Government surveys over the reservation and forwarded 
to the Commissioner of the General Land Office a map showing the 
result of his surveys. This map is identical with the one forwarded 
by Governor Stevens except the western boundary of the reservation 



,T^sUs4 



2 TIDE LANDS CLAIMED BY PUYALLUP INDIANS. 

along the waters of Commencement Bay. Governor Stevens's map 
shows a straight liiie across the head of the bay running f roni the last 
monument shown on his notes to the first monument, a distance of 
approximately H miles. The surveyor-general's map shows an irreg- 
ular line between the same points following approximately the line of 
high water, or what in the general survey would have been a meander 
line of the bay. Between these two lines there is an area of between 
200 and -SOO acres of land bars at low tide, but covered at high tide. 

One section of the constitution of the State of Washington asserts 
title in the State to all the tide and shore lands, while another section 
disclaims any title to lands embraced within an Indian reservation and 
lands patented by the United States. 

The Strtte of Washington enacted legislation in 1893 looking to the 
sale of its tide lands. Under that legislation a map was prepared 
platting the Tacoma tide lands up to the line of ordinary high water on 
the eastern shore of Commencement Bay. These lines correspond 
approximately with the lines shown on the survey or-generaFs map, 
but some substantial variations appear. 

These tide lands w^ere sold by the State in 1906 and are now held by 
private parties, including the land lying ))etween the western pai't of 
the reservation as shown on Governor Stevens's map and the western 
meander line of the reservation. This land is now the subject of con- 
flicting claims between the Fuyallup Indians and the grantees of the 
State. 

The supreme court of the State of Washington has held that the 
upland owners holding title from the United States hold to the mean- 
der line, as defined by the United States Government survey, where 
that meander line extends below the line of high tide. This decision 
is based on the disclaimer of title by the State in its constitution. 
The Indians assert that under the disclaimer contained in the constitu- 
tion their reservation extends to low-water mark, and that the land 
heretofore sold as tide land belongs to them. 

The trustees of the Puyallup Indians have entered into a contract ' 
with Charles Bedford, of Tacoma, Wash., for conducting litigation in 
their ])ehalf to recover these tide lands that are now claimed by the 
State, and I have approved this contract on condition that he shall 
receive as full compensation for his services as attorney in connection 
with this litigation 25 per cent of the proceeds from all compromises 
or sales of land recovered by virtue of his employment under the con- 
tract, one-half of said 25 per cent to be paid as soon as there shall be 
funds available from any compromise or sale, and the balance of the 
25 per cent to be paid on the termination of all suits or their diseon- ' 
tinuancc by mutual agreement. 

The litigation provided for in this contract appears essential to pro- ' 
tect the rights of the Indians, and I have caused to be prepared a draft 
of a bill ratifying said contract and authorizing the Secretary of the j- 
Interior to sell anj' land that may be recovered by compromise or > 
judgment, and to pay said Bedford 25 per cent of the gross proceeds of 
such compromise or sale, the balance of such proceeds to be deposited 
to the credit of the fund of the Puyallup Indians to be disposed of as 
provided by law for that fund. I respectfully reconmiend that the 
bill be enacted into law. 

Very respectfully, James Rudolph Garfield, ^ 

Secretary. ;_ 

The Speaker of the House of Representatives. 



RD 1.4 8:^'^ 



TIDE LANDS CLAIMED BY PUYALLUP INDIANS. 3 

Item^for insertion in the Indian appropriation hill. 

That a certain contract between the trustees of the Puyallup Indians and Charles 
Bedford, of Taconia, Washington, as modified by the Secretary of the Interior so 
that said Charles Bedford shall receive as compensation, instead of that named in 
the contract, for conducting litigation in behalf of the Puyallup Indians to recover 
certain lands disposed of by the State of Washington as tide lands, but alleged to 
belong to said Indians, twenty-ti ve per centum of the proceeds from the sale of the land 
recovered, but in no event more than thirty thousand dollars, in full for all his serv- 
ices under said contract, is hereby ratitied; and it is provided that any compromise 
as to any or all of the land involved in said suits entered into by Charles I3edford 
shall be effective when approved by the Secretary of the Interior, and in case of such 
compromise or of a judgment of the court fixing the title in said Indians, the Secre- 
tary of the Interior is authorized to pay to said Charles Bedford twenty-five per centum 
of the gross proceeds of such compromise or of a sale of the land in case of such 
judgment, which sale he is hereby authorized to make under rules and regulations 
to be prescribed by him, the balance after such payment to be deposited to the 
credit of the fund of said Puyallup Indians, to be disposed of as provided by law for 
that fund. 

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